Buzz-iness is good for bee-free honey start-up

Californian-based start-up MeliBio is developing a technology based on plant biology, fermentation and food science that can replace honeybees with microorganisms as a medium for honey production. Its goal is to produce plant-based honey that matches and improves on the molecular composition of bee-made honey.

Now MeliBio has seen investment from CULT Food Science Corp., an investment platform that specifically concentrates on the lab-grown food industry. This follows from MeliBio receiving almost $1 million in funding from a range of personal and venture capitalist investors in March of this year.

“At CULT, we believe strongly that the future of food will be science-based. In addition to pursuing lab-grown meat and cultured dairy investments, our team is diligently working to identify and deploy capital to the most innovative early-stage companies across the entire lab grown food ecosystem. The MeliBio team has an unrivalled expertise and passion, and we are thrilled to be able to support their mission of pioneering sustainable honey,” said Dorian Banks, CEO of CULT.

MeliBio honey is expected to be commercially available on a limited basis by the end of 2021, with wider availability in 2022.

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